Re: Shooting room paradox (addendum)

Jacob Costello (abbot@alecto.physics.uiuc.edu)
Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:59:21 -0600 (CST)

Here's a situation analogous to the shooting room where the probabilities are
(I hope) more clear. Suppose we have an atom with thirty six possible
orientations, each with equal probability to be found (a made up quanton).
>From these atoms we're going to build inverted two-dimensional ziggurats.
Each layer will be contain a factor of ten times as many atoms as the one
below it. (a factor of three in the figure below)

xxxxxxxxx
xxx
x

We'll build layer by layer, and measure the orientation of the atom on the far
right end of the layer after finishing a layer. If we measure the 36th
possible orientation for that atom, we'll stop building. Suppose we have an
infinite supply of these x atoms to build with. Surely what orientation we
measure has nothing to with how many atoms are left, or even the fact that
we're building a funny looking object.

jake costello